The First Day
by justametaphor
Summary: What was Rachel and Finn's relationship like after Sectionals? And how did it all change on the first day of their senior year? Written for Valentine's Day Fic Exchange on LJ.


I do not own Glee. I wish I did, but that pleasure belongs to Ryan Murphy and company.

Please comment- they really brighten my day!

Rachel Berry walked down the some old halls of McKinley High filled with the same old people, to the same old locker, and opened it using the same old combination. But today wasn't some old day. It was the first day of school; the first day of her senior year, and Rachel had the same feeling of anticipation usually reserved for just before a big performance. She didn't know why. Rachel had no reason to think this year would be any different than the twelve other years she'd spent in Ohio public schools, but she did. She didn't know how yet, but this was going to be her year.

Rachel hated being late, so she'd gotten to school a full forty-five minutes before the first bell. There were a couple of freshman hanging around, not sure what to do with themselves, and far to dressed up to be popular. Rachel smiled to herself; she wondered which of these misfits would be auditioning for New Directions next week.

Pulling open her locker, she was surprised to find it not the empty metal cavity that she'd been expecting. There was a folded piece of paper resting right in front of her. It was nearly empty.

Please meet me in the choir room before class starts. –Finn

Of course Finn would know that she'd be at school early enough for them to really talk. She wasn't sure if she should go meet him. She didn't know if she'd be able to talk near him, not after last time.

In Rachel's head they were going to go out about a month after sectionals. She knew that'd Finn would need a little time to morn his relationships with Quinn and Puck and she'd figured that a month would be long enough. Maybe two months. But she hadn't counted on it taking any longer than that. He had liked her while he was actually going out with Quinn, so she didn't think it would take him that long to want to be with her once they'd broken up. She was wrong.

Rachel would've done a lot for Finn but wait around for him while he wasn't even talking to her was not one of them. So she hooked up with Puck. He was nice to her, he was hot, and he was there. She hadn't been thinking about what Finn would think of this, but she probably should have.

There had been another fight in the choir room. Another fight that started with Finn jumping Puck for a beat down because Finn was sick of Puck always taking what was his. Rachel the Feminist was more than a little offended by being referred to like property so she didn't intervene when Puck punched back.

After it was all over, after Finn had stormed out again swearing at Rachel and Puck and Quinn, because those wounds weren't just going to heal, Rachel decided to break up with Puck. She told him it was because it would hurt the Glee club and because she wanted to see Finn and Puck repair their relationship. She kept to herself the fact that while she wiped the blood off Puck's face she'd seen the way he was staring at Quinn.

Finn had come to her after that, but he hadn't heard about the break up, and Rachel just let him think that it hadn't happened. She still wasn't sure why. Maybe she was still a little pissed off that he'd acted like she'd betrayed him when they'd barely even been talking. Finn had barely been talking to anyone lately, but that didn't really matter. Rachel knew how to get most of what she wanted, but she had been 16, and she had no idea how to have it all.

So they hadn't gotten together then, in the spring of their sophomore year. And then Rachel had met Andrew, the star of Vocal Adrenaline, who was just as driven and talented and understood her and was completely perfect. They were the perfect couple, they're harmonies could bring people to tears, but there was still a tightness in Rachel's heart when she heard that Finn and Santana had hooked up. They both insisted it had nothing to do with either of their former best friends but no one in the Glee Club bought that load of crap. Rachel felt more than a tightness when she heard that they'd done more than just hook up, a lot more, and singing with Andrew hadn't totally made her feel better.

They broke up after Regionals. New Directions came in second, the competition was clearly rigged, but Vocal Adrenaline got the bronze so there are still some small victories. Andrew broke up with her behind the stage, while confetti fluttered in the air. He said he didn't want to hold Rachel back, that their competitive spirits would always separate them. Rachel thought it had something to do with the silver metal that still dangled around her neck.

She'd wanted him junior year, of course she did, but after all the drama of last year- Puck was still weird with her and Brittany and Santana were now an official couple- boys had really not been in the forefront of her mind. She and Finn chugged along. They say each other in class, in Glee, at the few parties Rachel had been invited to. It wasn't the same. They didn't really see each other, not the way they used to. Rachel had been the one would first seen Finn for who he truly was, but now there was so much baggage between them it had blocked her view of the real him.

She didn't want to think about the last time they'd talked, but as her shiny black Mary Janes clacked down the halls leading her to the choir room she couldn't help herself.

Mercedes had thrown a party to celebrate the end of school. Rachel was heading off to Connecticut the next day to take classes at Wesleyan Center of Film Studies. She'd been kind of unsure about going to party. Even though she'd been in Glee for almost two years and she was able to characterize the other members as her friends, if barely, she had always felt somewhat uncomfortable whenever there was a function outside of school. Especially if it involved football players and alcohol. Cheap beer seemed to elevate their idiocy to a whole new level, and Rachel was sure there would be enough to lower more than a few IQs.

She'd gone because, as awkward as she knew she was going to feel, she had been invited, and she still loved to be included. After promptly arriving at seven Rachel had bounced between talking to Artie, talking to Quinn, and chugging a fruity drink that Kurt kept handing to her. She hadn't known why she was drinking. She never did- never- but she figured she really ought to get good and properly drunk at some point during her high school tenor and that night, with her dads away for a romantic weekend in Chicago, seemed like the perfect opportunity.

While being drunk was definitely not what Rachel was expecting, it made doing some dance moves pretty damn difficult, it was still kind of fun. She definitely didn't make her feel awkward, that was for sure.

She'd gone over to him pretty late into the party, maybe around eleven. It didn't matter how long she'd known him, Rachel was sure she'd always be dazed by how tall Finn was. She briefly wondered if her had a pituitary problem before tapping on his shoulder.

"I am drunk" was how she'd announced herself.

"That you are. Would you like to join me?" Finn motioned to his feet. Rachel then realized he was not wearing his shoes and his pant legs were rolled up. She wondered why in God's name he wouldn't be wearing shoes next to a pool- he could slip! - when he answered her question by sitting down and putting his feet into the cool blue water. She joined him.

They sat there and talked. She didn't even know what they talked about. Glee and college and summer plans were sure to have made up the conversation, but Rachel still couldn't remember any of it. But she remembered looking at him as he talked and realizing that he had a great profile.

It was like she'd forgotten how handsome he was. Like the fighting and mean names and general separation had made her forget how attractive Finn was really was. But that night, with R&B straining in the background and moonlight making the pool shimmer, she remembered. She'd wanted to be alone with him, right that very second. There were a few other people gathered around the pool, but Rachel suddenly felt like there were a million peering in on her and Finn's conversation.

"Come walk with me" she'd said, and he had followed. They left their shoes behind and began to walk towards the woods that framed Mercedes' backyard. Reaching the edge of the trees Finn had suddenly called to her in alarm, he'd stepped on something and didn't want to continue.

They sat under a tree. They didn't talk. She looked at him and he looked at his hands and there they were again in the auditorium in the beginning of their sophomore year.

"Rachel?"

"Yes Finn?"

"Where were you this year? I feel like I never saw you." Her breath had caught in her throat because it was just the way she'd felt about him.

"I'm here now" and she leaned in for the kiss.

Rachel paused before the choir room door. She blushed at the memory of being naked with Finn in the outdoors, where anybody could see them. Of letting a boy who was not her boyfriend kiss her in ways only a boyfriend should. She hadn't slept with him but Rachel knew that she wouldn't have been able to run off if she'd let it go any further.

She hadn't seen him since then. The last words he'd said to her still rung in her ears, as they had all summer. They made her blush a deeper red for they were more intimate than even being naked with him had been. She opened the door in front of her. He was inside.

"I think I love you too" was all she said before she slipped inside to meet him.

It was the first day of her senior year. It was the first day of a whole lot more.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Please comment (if its negative, I'll love the feedback).


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